In 2 Minutes: Ransomware, what you need to know

This is “In 2 Minutes,” brought to you by Brilliance Security Magazine, and today we will tell you what you need to know about Ransomware, specifically the 2017 Ransomware Report by Cybersecurity Insiders.

Ransomware is a billion dollar cybercrime industry and is widely seen as the single biggest cybersecurity threat to both business and government organizations.

How significant of a threat is ransomware to your business? 80% of respondents see ransomware as an extreme or moderate threat.

79% believe that the threat from ransomware will grow even larger in the next 12 months.

And 30% believe that it is very likely that they will become a target of ransomware in that same period.

The report goes on to ask questions about the experience of ransomware victims, how they were attacked, and what data was the target.

33% of the respondents acknowledged that they had been the victim of an attack.

73% of these victims said that email as was the attack vector used, 54% indicated phishing scams, and 28% believe that users visited malicious sites.

Financial data and customer information were most at risk, followed by employee information, and company intellectual property.

Not surprisingly, very few organization confirm that they are willing to pay a ransom to get their data released. 77% claim they are not at all likely and 66% say they would pay zero dollars to the attackers. While this is a prudent position to state, it may be a more difficult decision if the survival of your business is at stake.